Method and/or apparatus to efficiently transmit broadband service content using low density parity code based coded modulation

ABSTRACT

An apparatus comprising a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may be configured to generate an MPEG packet data stream. The second circuit may be configured to (i) scramble the data stream to generate a scrambled data stream, (ii) encode the scrambled data stream to generate an encoded data stream, (iii) interleave the encoded data stream, (iv) encode the interleaved data stream, (v) modulate the encoded data stream, and (vi) filter the modulated data stream.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a method of transmitting digital signals generally and, more particularly, to a method and/or architecture to efficiently transmit broadband service content using low density parity code based coded modulation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] With the proliferation of broadband transmission media such as digital satellite television, digital cable, cable modem, and DSL, several error correcting transmission protocols have emerged. Conventional standards like Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Satellite (ISDB-S) that deploy QuadraPhase-Shift Keying (QPSK) or 8 level Phase-Shift Keying (8PSK) based systems use conventional forward error correction techniques. Such techniques allow transmission of standard and High Definition Digital Television (HDTV) signals over satellite by using a higher bandwidth and transmitting power to be able to deliver digital television channels.

[0003] The following TABLE 1 illustrates an example of a conventional target satellite system performance specification: TABLE 1 Item Min Typ Max Unit 1 Payload 41   — — Mbps 2 Code TBD — TBD 3 QEF 10E − 11 — — 4 Symbol 20   22   23   MSps 5 Eb/No @ 10E − 1 2/3 or — —  4   dB 5/6 or — —  4.6 dB 8/9 — —  5.2 dB 6 Dish — — 46   cm 7 Satellite EIRP for +2.6 — — dB 8 PSK with respect to QPSK transponders 8 C/No for QPSK 20 Msps. — 78.9 — dB 3/4

[0004] These specifications can vary based on the broadband carrier environment. Conventional QPSK based transmission systems do not achieve high definition digital television (i.e., 720 p or 1080 i) with the given constraints of bandwidth and available transmission power.

[0005] It would be desirable to develop a television system specification in response to system performance goals for the design and development of a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code based Forward Error Correction (FEC) system for use in broadband gateways.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may be configured to generate an MPEG packet data stream. The second circuit may be configured to (i) scramble the data stream to generate a scrambled data stream, (ii) encode the scrambled data stream to generate an encoded data stream, (iii) interleave the encoded data stream, (iv) encode the interleaved data stream, (v) modulate the encoded data stream, and (vi) filter the modulated data stream.

[0007] The objects, features and advantages of the present invention include providing a system to efficiently transmit broadband service content using low density parity code based coded modulation that may (i) operate efficiently and effectively using the preexisting bandwidth allocated to television signals, and/or (ii) avoid attenuation problems when broadcast at preexisting transmission power levels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims and drawings in which:

[0009]FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the context of the present invention;

[0010]FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0011]FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a MPEG-2 data payload packet;

[0012]FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a MPEG-2 data frame;

[0013]FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a more detailed view of the data frame of FIG. 4;

[0014]FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data frame after Reed-Solomon encoding;

[0015]FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a construction of the input to a LDPC encoder from a block interleaver output;

[0016]FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of an encoder bit-to-symbol mapper and modulator for a nPSK/mQAM system; and

[0017]FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example bits-to-8PSK symbol mapping used in satellite 8PSK.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] The present invention may involve a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) based Forward Error Correcting (FEC) subsystem for digital broadcasting. The present invention may be particularly suited as part of a satellite system physical layer deployed in a consumer grade set-top box to receive Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) transmissions as a carrier for High Definition (HD) programming. The present invention may allow additional high definition channels to be broadcasted and decoded using the same bandwidth as conventional approaches use to deliver fewer channels. Initially, the use of the 8 Level Phase-Shift Keying (8PSK) modulated channels of the present invention may only be applied to select transponders, while the majority of transponders may continue to use QuadraPhase-Shift Keying (QPSK) in Digital Video Broadcasting/Digital Signature Standard (DVB/DSS) format. By initially introducing the 8PSK modulated channels to limited transponders, end users will have an opportunity to upgrade. Furthermore, by introducing 8PSK modulation to additional new programming choices, end users will have an incentive to implement the present invention. Furthermore, if channels that an end user is accustomed to receiving with conventional QPSK are still available during the transition, consumer satisfaction may be improved. While the digital satellite television serves as a specific example, the FEC portion of which the LDPC decoder forms a part may be suitably parameterized to be flexible enough to be used in other applications such as terrestrial or cable based broadband systems.

[0019] The present invention may be designed to comply with the conventional target satellite system performance specifications discussed in the background section. The present invention may be implemented as a stand alone decoder, or as an upgrade to conventional decoders. The transmission system of the present invention may begin with channel coding. The channel coding for the class of broadband applications that the present invention is most suited for may be based on a family of iteratively decoded codes known as Low Density Parity Checks (LDPCs). Simulation results are presented for a given Finite Geometry (FG) LDPC code, but may not be restricted to this choice. However, any appropriate type of coding may be used to meet the design criteria of a particular application.

[0020] Referring to FIG. 1, a diagram illustrating the context of the present invention is shown. The present invention 100 may be a circuit and/or process designed to receive an MPEG encoded digital video signal from an MPEG source encoder 50. The MPEG encoded digital video signal may be, in one example, the raw MPEG signal read from a DVD. The signal may be provided from the encoder 50 as MPEG source input framing packets. In one example, the present invention 100 may process, encode, and/or modulate an MPEG encoded digital video signal.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 2, a diagram illustrating a method (or process) 100 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The process 100 illustrates an example of a system incorporating LDPCs. The process 100 may have six main processing stages 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, and 112 and one optional stage 114. The stage 102 may be implemented as a bitwise scrambling stage. The stage 102 may receive MPEG source input framing packets from a source encoder. The stage 104 may implement an outer coding process. The stage 106 may comprise a symbol or frame interleaving stage. The stage 108 may implement a variable rate LDPC inner encoding process. The stage 110 may implement a modulation process and a bit-to-symbol mapping stage. The stage 112 may implement a 8/4/2-Phase-Shift -Keying (8/4/2-PSK) modulator. The optional stage 114 may be implemented between the stages 108 and 110 and may comprise a synchronization stage. Alternatively, FIG. 2 may be viewed as a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) diagram. The seven stages of FIG. 2 may be viewed as each comprising a circuit configured to achieve the objective of the particular stage.

[0022] Prior to the stage 102,transport stream (TS) bytes from an MPEG-2 source encoder may be packed into a packet structure. In a typical example, each packet may contain 187 data payload bytes. Two hundred of such data payload packets (e.g., 37400 bytes) may comprise one basic data frame.

[0023]FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a single MPEG-2 data payload packet 150 comprising 187 bytes arranged in a contiguous block. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a basic data frame 160 comprising 200 187 byte MPEG-2 data payload packets 150 contiguously arranged in a block. FIG. 5 is an example 170 of a more detailed view of the elements of the basic MPEG-2 data frame 160 of FIG. 4. A sync. byte (e.g., a value of 47 in hexadecimal representation) may be inserted before every packet 150 to indicate the beginning of a packet being transmitted. Before the very first packet, an inverted sync. byte (e.g., a value of b8 in hexadecimal) may be inserted to enable proper synchronization of the data frame 160.

[0024] Referring back to FIG. 2, the stage 102 may comprise energy dispersal. The stage 102 may receive the MPEG data frames 160 illustrated in FIG. 4 from the source encoder 50. To ensure adequate transitions for proper timing recovery, bit-wise energy dispersal (e.g., randomization) may be carried out as in the Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite (DVB-S) specification. In one example, the polynomial chosen for the Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence (PRBS) generation may be given by f(x)=1+x¹⁴+x¹⁵. A bit sequence (e.g., 100101010000000) may be loaded into a shift register at the start of the MPEG source frame and subsequently, at the beginning of every 8 MPEG transport packets. The very first sync. byte position at the start of the source frame may be marked in an MPEG TS stream by the inverted MPEG sync. byte (e.g., a value of b8 in hexadecimal) as shown in FIG. 5. The scrambling operation may be disabled at the first of every 8 sync. bytes (e.g., at the beginning of each scrambling cycle comprising 8×188=1536 bit intervals). Thus, the inverted sync. byte at the beginning of the source frame may remain unaffected.

[0025] Referring to FIG. 6, a complete Reed-Solomon (RS) encoded frame 180 is shown. The stage 104 may comprise outer coding (e.g., RS(200,188)). Prior to transmission, the transport bytes in each frame may be encoded by a shortened Reed-Solomon encoder of length 200 and error correcting capability t=6 (e.g., the systematic code word may contain 12 check bytes after 188 input data bytes). The RS(200,188) code defined over a Galors Field GF[2⁸] may have the same generator and binary primitive polynomials as a DVB-S code applying RS(204,188). Thus, each RS encoded frame 180 generated by the stage 104 may then comprise ((1+187)+12)×200=200×200=40,000 bytes.

[0026] The stage 106 may comprise symbol or frame interleaving. In order to decimate the error events created by the inner LDPC decoder at the receiver, a block interleaver (e.g., frame size 200×200) may be used on the output frames 180 of the Reed-Solomon encoder of the stage 104. The interleaving operation may be synchronized by using a frame start signal aligned at the start of the inverted sync. byte from the beginning of the first RS code word of the encoded frame. The stage 106 may add parity to the data stream provided to the subsequent stage 108 to greatly reduce the probability of bit errors occurring at the receiver decoder during decoding.

[0027] The following TABLE 2 illustrates a 255×175 [H] matrix that is shown to be applied in the following example: TABLE 2 1 14 23 39 46 60 88 143 144 155 163 215 221 225 251 254 0 13 22 38 45 59 87 142 143 154 162 214 220 224 250 253 12 21 37 44 58 86 141 142 153 161 213 219 223 249 252 254 11 20 36 43 57 85 140 141 152 160 212 218 222 248 251 253 10 19 35 42 56 84 139 140 151 159 211 217 221 247 250 252 9 18 34 41 55 83 138 139 150 158 210 216 220 246 249 251 8 17 33 40 54 82 137 138 149 157 209 215 219 245 248 250 7 16 32 39 53 81 136 137 148 156 208 214 218 244 247 249 6 15 31 38 52 80 135 136 147 155 207 213 217 243 246 248 5 14 30 37 51 79 134 135 146 154 206 212 216 242 245 247 4 13 29 36 50 78 133 134 145 153 205 211 215 241 244 246 3 12 28 35 49 77 132 133 144 152 204 210 214 240 243 245 2 11 27 34 48 76 131 132 143 151 203 209 213 239 242 244 1 10 26 33 47 75 130 131 142 150 202 208 212 238 241 243 0 9 25 32 46 74 129 130 141 149 201 207 211 237 240 242 8 24 31 45 73 128 129 140 148 200 206 210 236 239 241 254 7 23 30 44 72 127 128 139 147 199 205 209 235 238 240 253 6 22 29 43 71 126 127 138 146 198 204 208 234 237 239 252 5 21 28 42 70 125 126 137 145 197 203 207 233 236 238 251 4 20 27 41 69 124 125 136 144 196 202 206 232 235 237 250 3 19 26 40 68 123 124 135 143 195 201 205 231 234 236 249 2 18 25 39 67 122 123 134 142 194 200 204 230 233 235 248 1 17 24 38 66 121 122 133 141 193 199 203 229 232 234 247 0 16 23 37 65 120 121 132 140 192 198 202 228 231 233 246 15 22 36 64 119 120 131 139 191 197 201 227 230 232 245 254 14 21 35 63 118 119 130 138 190 196 200 226 229 231 244 253 13 20 34 62 117 118 129 137 189 195 199 225 228 230 243 252 12 19 33 61 116 117 128 136 188 194 198 224 227 229 242 251 11 18 32 60 115 116 127 135 187 193 197 223 226 228 241 250 10 17 31 59 114 115 126 134 186 192 196 222 225 227 240 249 9 16 30 58 113 114 125 133 185 191 195 221 224 226 239 248 8 15 29 57 112 113 124 132 184 190 194 220 223 225 238 247 7 14 28 56 111 112 123 131 183 189 193 219 222 224 237 246 6 13 27 55 110 111 122 130 182 188 192 218 221 223 236 245 5 12 26 54 109 110 121 129 181 187 191 217 220 222 235 244 4 11 25 53 108 109 120 128 180 186 190 216 219 221 234 243 3 10 24 52 107 108 119 127 179 185 189 215 218 220 233 242 2 9 23 51 106 107 118 126 178 184 188 214 217 219 232 241 1 8 22 50 105 106 117 125 177 183 187 213 216 218 231 240 0 7 21 49 104 105 116 124 176 182 186 212 215 217 230 239 6 20 48 103 104 115 123 175 181 185 211 214 216 229 238 254 5 19 47 102 103 114 122 174 180 184 210 213 215 228 237 253 4 18 46 101 102 113 121 173 179 183 209 212 214 227 236 252 3 17 45 100 101 112 120 172 178 182 208 211 213 226 235 251 2 16 44 99 100 111 119 171 177 181 207 210 212 225 234 250 1 15 43 98 99 110 118 170 176 180 206 209 211 224 233 249 0 14 42 97 98 109 117 169 175 179 205 208 210 223 232 248 13 41 96 97 108 116 168 174 178 204 207 209 222 231 247 254 12 40 95 96 107 115 167 173 177 203 206 208 221 230 246 253 11 39 94 95 106 114 166 172 176 202 205 207 220 229 245 252 10 38 93 94 105 113 165 171 175 201 204 206 219 228 244 251 9 37 92 93 104 112 164 170 174 200 203 205 218 227 243 250 8 36 91 92 103 111 163 169 173 199 202 204 217 226 242 249 7 35 90 91 102 110 162 168 172 198 201 203 216 225 241 248 6 34 89 90 101 109 161 167 171 197 200 202 215 224 240 247 5 33 88 89 100 108 160 166 170 196 199 201 214 223 239 246 4 32 87 88 99 107 159 165 169 195 198 200 213 222 238 245 3 31 86 87 98 106 158 164 168 194 197 199 212 221 237 244 2 30 85 86 97 105 157 163 167 193 196 198 211 220 236 243 1 29 84 85 96 104 156 162 166 192 195 197 210 219 235 242 0 28 83 84 95 103 155 161 165 191 194 196 209 218 234 241 27 82 83 94 102 154 160 164 190 193 195 208 217 233 240 254 26 81 82 93 101 153 159 163 189 192 194 207 216 232 239 253 25 80 81 92 100 152 158 162 188 191 193 206 215 231 238 252 24 79 80 91 99 151 157 161 187 190 192 205 214 230 237 251 23 78 79 90 98 150 156 160 186 189 191 204 213 229 236 250 22 77 78 89 97 149 155 159 185 188 190 203 212 228 235 249 21 76 77 88 96 148 154 158 184 187 189 202 211 227 234 248 20 75 76 87 95 147 153 157 183 186 188 201 210 226 233 247 19 74 75 86 94 146 152 156 182 185 187 200 209 225 232 246 18 73 74 85 93 145 151 155 181 184 186 199 208 224 231 245 17 72 73 84 92 144 150 154 180 183 185 198 207 223 230 244 16 71 72 83 91 143 149 153 179 182 184 197 206 222 229 243 15 70 71 82 90 142 148 152 178 181 183 196 205 221 228 242 14 69 70 81 89 141 147 151 177 180 182 195 204 220 227 241 13 68 69 80 88 140 146 150 176 179 181 194 203 219 226 240 12 67 68 79 87 139 145 149 175 178 180 193 202 218 225 239 11 66 67 78 86 138 144 148 174 177 179 192 201 217 224 238 10 65 66 77 85 137 143 147 173 176 178 191 200 216 223 237 9 64 65 76 84 136 142 146 172 175 177 190 199 215 222 236 8 63 64 75 83 135 141 145 171 174 176 189 198 214 221 235 7 62 63 74 82 134 140 144 170 173 175 188 197 213 220 234 6 61 62 73 81 133 139 143 169 172 174 187 196 212 219 233 5 60 61 72 80 132 138 142 168 171 173 186 195 211 218 232 4 59 60 71 79 131 137 141 167 170 172 185 194 210 217 231 3 58 59 70 78 130 136 140 166 169 171 184 193 209 216 230 2 57 58 69 77 129 135 139 165 168 170 183 192 208 215 229 1 56 57 68 76 128 134 138 164 167 169 182 191 207 214 228 0 55 56 67 75 127 133 137 163 166 168 181 190 206 213 227 54 55 66 74 126 132 136 162 165 167 180 189 205 212 226 254 53 54 65 73 125 131 135 161 164 166 179 188 204 211 225 253 52 53 64 72 124 130 134 160 163 165 178 187 203 210 224 252 51 52 63 71 123 129 133 159 162 164 177 186 202 209 223 251 50 51 62 70 122 128 132 158 161 163 176 185 201 208 222 250 49 50 61 69 121 127 131 157 160 162 175 184 200 207 221 249 48 49 60 68 120 126 130 156 159 161 174 183 199 206 220 248 47 48 59 67 119 125 129 155 158 160 173 182 198 205 219 247 46 47 58 66 118 124 128 154 157 159 172 181 197 204 218 246 45 46 57 65 117 123 127 153 156 158 171 180 196 203 217 245 44 45 56 64 116 122 126 152 155 157 170 179 195 202 216 244 43 44 55 63 115 121 125 151 154 156 169 178 194 201 215 243 42 43 54 62 114 120 124 150 153 155 168 177 193 200 214 242 41 42 53 61 113 119 123 149 152 154 167 176 192 199 213 241 40 41 52 60 112 118 122 148 151 153 166 175 191 198 212 240 39 40 51 59 111 117 121 147 150 152 165 174 190 197 211 239 38 39 50 58 110 116 120 146 149 151 164 173 189 196 210 238 37 38 49 57 109 115 119 145 148 150 163 172 188 195 209 237 36 37 48 56 108 114 118 144 147 149 162 171 187 194 208 236 35 36 47 55 107 113 117 143 146 148 161 170 186 193 207 235 34 35 46 54 106 112 116 142 145 147 160 169 185 192 206 234 33 34 45 53 105 111 115 141 144 146 159 168 184 191 205 233 32 33 44 52 104 110 114 140 143 145 158 167 183 190 204 232 31 32 43 51 103 109 113 139 142 144 157 166 182 189 203 231 30 31 42 50 102 108 112 138 141 143 156 165 181 188 202 230 29 30 41 49 101 107 111 137 140 142 155 164 180 187 201 229 28 29 40 48 100 106 110 136 139 141 154 163 179 186 200 228 27 28 39 47 99 105 109 135 138 140 153 162 178 185 199 227 26 27 38 46 98 104 108 134 137 139 152 161 177 184 198 226 25 26 37 45 97 103 107 133 136 138 151 160 176 183 197 225 24 25 36 44 96 102 106 132 135 137 150 159 175 182 196 224 23 24 35 43 95 101 105 131 134 136 149 158 174 181 195 223 22 23 34 42 94 100 104 130 133 135 148 157 173 180 194 222 21 22 33 41 93 99 103 129 132 134 147 156 172 179 193 221 20 21 32 40 92 98 102 128 131 133 146 155 171 178 192 220 19 20 31 39 91 97 101 127 130 132 145 154 170 177 191 219 18 19 30 38 90 96 100 126 129 131 144 153 169 176 190 218 17 18 29 37 89 95 99 125 128 130 143 152 168 175 189 217 16 17 28 36 88 94 98 124 127 129 142 151 167 174 188 216 15 16 27 35 87 93 97 123 126 128 141 150 166 173 187 215 14 15 26 34 86 92 96 122 125 127 140 149 165 172 186 214 13 14 25 33 85 91 95 121 124 126 139 148 164 171 185 213 12 13 24 32 84 90 94 120 123 125 138 147 163 170 184 212 11 12 23 31 83 89 93 119 122 124 137 146 162 169 183 211 10 11 22 30 82 88 92 118 121 123 136 145 161 168 182 210 9 10 21 29 81 87 91 117 120 122 135 144 160 167 181 209 8 9 20 28 80 86 90 116 119 121 134 143 159 166 180 208 7 8 19 27 79 85 89 115 118 120 133 142 158 165 179 207 6 7 18 26 78 84 88 114 117 119 132 141 157 164 178 206 5 6 17 25 77 83 87 113 116 118 131 140 156 163 177 205 4 5 16 24 76 82 86 112 115 117 130 139 155 162 176 204 3 4 15 23 75 81 85 111 114 116 129 138 154 161 175 203 2 3 14 22 74 80 84 110 113 115 128 137 153 160 174 202 1 2 13 21 73 79 83 109 112 114 127 136 152 159 173 201 0 1 12 20 72 78 82 108 111 113 126 135 151 158 172 200 0 11 19 71 77 81 107 110 112 125 134 150 157 171 199 254 10 18 70 76 80 106 109 111 124 133 149 156 170 198 253 254 9 17 69 75 79 105 108 110 123 132 148 155 169 197 252 253 8 16 68 74 78 104 107 109 122 131 147 154 168 196 251 252 7 15 67 73 77 103 106 108 121 130 146 153 167 195 250 251 6 14 66 72 76 102 105 107 120 129 145 152 166 194 249 250 5 13 65 71 75 101 104 106 119 128 144 151 165 193 248 249 4 12 64 70 74 100 103 105 118 127 143 150 164 192 247 248 3 11 63 69 73 99 102 104 117 126 142 149 163 191 246 247 2 10 62 68 72 98 101 103 116 125 141 148 162 190 245 246 1 9 61 67 71 97 100 102 115 124 140 147 161 189 244 245 0 8 60 66 70 96 99 101 114 123 139 146 160 188 243 244 7 59 65 69 95 98 100 113 122 138 145 159 187 242 243 254 6 58 64 68 94 97 99 112 121 137 144 158 186 241 242 253 5 57 63 67 93 96 98 111 120 136 143 157 185 240 241 252 4 56 62 66 92 95 97 110 119 135 142 156 184 239 240 251 3 55 61 65 91 94 96 109 118 134 141 155 183 238 239 250 2 54 60 64 90 93 95 108 117 133 140 154 182 237 238 249 1 53 59 63 89 92 94 107 116 132 139 153 181 236 237 248 0 52 58 62 88 91 93 106 115 131 138 152 180 235 236 247 51 57 61 87 90 92 105 114 130 137 151 179 234 235 246 254 50 56 60 86 89 91 104 113 129 136 150 178 233 234 245 253 49 55 59 85 88 90 103 112 128 135 149 177 232 233 244 252 48 54 58 84 87 89 102 111 127 134 148 176 231 232 243 251 47 53 57 83 86 88 101 110 126 133 147 175 230 231 242 250 46 52 56 82 85 87 100 109 125 132 146 174 229 230 241 249 45 51 55 81 84 86 99 108 124 131 145 173 228 229 240 248 44 50 54 80 83 85 98 107 123 130 144 172 227 228 239 247 43 49 53 79 82 84 97 106 122 129 143 171 226 227 238 246 42 48 52 78 81 83 96 105 121 128 142 170 225 226 237 245 41 47 51 77 80 82 95 104 120 127 141 169 224 225 236 244 40 46 50 76 79 81 94 103 119 126 140 168 223 224 235 243 39 45 49 75 78 80 93 102 118 125 139 167 222 223 234 242 38 44 48 74 77 79 92 101 117 124 138 166 221 222 233 241 37 43 47 73 76 78 91 100 116 123 137 165 220 221 232 240 36 42 46 72 75 77 90 99 115 122 136 164 219 220 231 239 35 41 45 71 74 76 89 98 114 121 135 163 218 219 230 238 34 40 44 70 73 75 88 97 113 120 134 162 217 218 229 237 33 39 43 69 72 74 87 96 112 119 133 161 216 217 228 236 32 38 42 68 71 73 86 95 111 118 132 160 215 216 227 235 31 37 41 67 70 72 85 94 110 117 131 159 214 215 226 234 30 36 40 66 69 71 84 93 109 116 130 158 213 214 225 233 29 35 39 65 68 70 83 92 108 115 129 157 212 213 224 232 28 34 38 64 67 69 82 91 107 114 128 156 211 212 223 231 27 33 37 63 66 68 81 90 106 113 127 155 210 211 222 230 26 32 36 62 65 67 80 89 105 112 126 154 209 210 221 229 25 31 35 61 64 66 79 88 104 111 125 153 208 209 220 228 24 30 34 60 63 65 78 87 103 110 124 152 207 208 219 227 23 29 33 59 62 64 77 86 102 109 123 151 206 207 218 226 22 28 32 58 61 63 76 85 101 108 122 150 205 206 217 225 21 27 31 57 60 62 75 84 100 107 121 149 204 205 216 224 20 26 30 56 59 61 74 83 99 106 120 148 203 204 215 223 19 25 29 55 58 60 73 82 98 105 119 147 202 203 214 222 18 24 28 54 57 59 72 81 97 104 118 146 201 202 213 221 17 23 27 53 56 58 71 80 96 103 117 145 200 201 212 220 16 22 26 52 55 57 70 79 95 102 116 144 199 200 211 219 15 21 25 51 54 56 69 78 94 101 115 143 198 199 210 218 14 20 24 50 53 55 68 77 93 100 114 142 197 198 209 217 13 19 23 49 52 54 67 76 92 99 113 141 196 197 208 216 12 18 22 48 51 53 66 75 91 98 112 140 195 196 207 215 11 17 21 47 50 52 65 74 90 97 111 139 194 195 206 214 10 16 20 46 49 51 64 73 89 96 110 138 193 194 205 213 9 15 19 45 48 50 63 72 88 95 109 137 192 193 204 212 8 14 18 44 47 49 62 71 87 94 108 136 191 192 203 211 7 13 17 43 46 48 61 70 86 93 107 135 190 191 202 210 6 12 16 42 45 47 60 69 85 92 106 134 189 190 201 209 5 11 15 41 44 46 59 68 84 91 105 133 188 189 200 208 4 10 14 40 43 45 58 67 83 90 104 132 187 188 199 207 3 9 13 39 42 44 57 66 82 89 103 131 186 187 198 206 2 8 12 38 41 43 56 65 81 88 102 130 185 186 197 205 1 7 11 37 40 42 55 64 80 87 101 129 184 185 196 204 0 6 10 36 39 41 54 63 79 86 100 128 183 184 195 203 5 9 35 38 40 53 62 78 85 99 127 182 183 194 202 254 4 8 34 37 39 52 61 77 84 98 126 181 182 193 201 253 3 7 33 36 38 51 60 76 83 97 125 180 181 192 200 252 2 6 32 35 37 50 59 75 82 96 124 179 180 191 199 251 1 5 31 34 36 49 58 74 81 95 123 178 179 190 198 250 0 4 30 33 35 48 57 73 80 94 122 177 178 189 197 249 3 29 32 34 47 56 72 79 93 121 176 177 188 196 248 254 2 28 31 33 46 55 71 78 92 120 175 176 187 195 247 253 1 27 30 32 45 54 70 77 91 119 174 175 186 194 246 252 0 26 29 31 44 53 69 76 90 118 173 174 185 193 245 251 25 28 30 43 52 68 75 89 117 172 173 184 192 244 250 254 24 27 29 42 51 67 74 88 116 171 172 183 191 243 249 253 23 26 28 41 50 66 73 87 115 170 171 182 190 242 248 252 22 25 27 40 49 65 72 86 114 169 170 181 189 241 247 251 21 24 26 39 48 64 71 85 113 168 169 180 188 240 246 250 20 23 25 38 47 63 70 84 112 167 168 179 187 239 245 249 19 22 24 37 46 62 69 83 111 166 167 178 186 238 244 248 18 21 23 36 45 61 68 82 110 165 166 177 185 237 243 247 17 20 22 35 44 60 67 81 109 164 165 176 184 236 242 246 16 19 21 34 43 59 66 80 108 163 164 175 183 235 241 245 15 18 20 33 42 58 65 79 107 162 163 174 182 234 240 244 14 17 19 32 41 57 64 78 106 161 162 173 181 233 239 243 13 16 18 31 40 56 63 77 105 160 161 172 180 232 238 242 12 15 17 30 39 55 62 76 104 159 160 171 179 231 237 241 11 14 16 29 38 54 61 75 103 158 159 170 178 230 236 240 10 13 15 28 37 53 60 74 102 157 158 169 177 229 235 239 9 12 14 27 36 52 59 73 101 156 157 168 176 228 234 238 8 11 13 26 35 51 58 72 100 155 156 167 175 227 233 237 7 10 12 25 34 50 57 71 99 154 155 166 174 226 232 236 6 9 11 24 33 49 56 70 98 153 154 165 173 225 231 235 5 8 10 23 32 48 55 69 97 152 153 164 172 224 230 234 4 7 9 22 31 47 54 68 96 151 152 163 171 223 229 233 3 6 8 21 30 46 53 67 95 150 151 162 170 222 228 232 2 5 7 20 29 45 52 66 94 149 150 161 169 221 227 231 1 4 6 19 28 44 51 65 93 148 149 160 168 220 226 230 0 3 5 18 27 43 50 64 92 147 148 159 167 219 225 229 2 4 17 26 42 49 63 91 146 147 158 166 218 224 228 254 1 3 16 25 41 48 62 90 145 146 157 165 217 223 227 253 0 2 15 24 40 47 61 89 144 145 156 164 216 222 226 252

[0028] Referring to FIG. 7, a diagram 190 illustrating the construction of the input generated by the symbol or frame interleaver stage 106 that may be provided to the LDPC encoder stage 108 is shown. The stage 108 may comprise a variable rate LDPC inner encoder. In one example, the inner encoder may use a shortened version of a 2 dimensional (255, 175) Euclidean Geometry (EG) LDPC code defined over a EG(2,2⁴). The variable rate for a cyclic EG-LDPC code may be achieved by suitably puncturing the information and the parity bits. The resulting (239,160) shortened EG-LDPC code may be constructed by an appropriate puncturing of 15 information bits and 1 parity bit of the (255, 175) mother code. An example of the (255, 175) mother code may be represented by the [H] matrix given in Table 2.

[0029] The optional stage 114 may implement synchronization. The binary LDPC code word block of the present example may comprise 160 bits. Thus, a single RS(200,188) codeword may provide for (8*200 bits)/160=10 blocks. Further, a single source frame 180 after RS encoding may comprise 200 RS encoded blocks. This may correspond to a total of 10×200=2000 input blocks 190 for the LDPC encoder 108. With a systematic implementation of a generator matrix for both the RS and LDPC codes, the b8 hexadecimal value illustrated in FIG. 5 may still be maintained as the first input byte of the overall RS encoded frame 180 going into the systematic LDPC encoder 108. Hence, the b8 hexadecimal value may also be the first output byte of the LDPC encoded frame. To aid in carrier recovery, n optional pilot symbols may be inserted after each LDPC encoded frame (e.g., after every 239×10×200=478,000 bits). These pilot symbols may be removed by the receiver during demodulation.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 8, a block diagram of a process comprising an encoder, bit to symbol mapper and modulator for an example n-level Phase-Shift Keying/m-level Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (nPSK/mQAM) system 200 is shown. The nPSK/mQAM system 200 may be an expanded view of an example implementation of the steps 108, 110, and 112 of FIG. 2. The nPSK/mQAM system may comprise a stage 202, a stage 204, a stage 206, and a stage 208. The stage 202 may apply the systemic mother code example [H] matrix of TABLE 2 to achieve inner coding. The stage 204 may perform the puncturing operation. The stage 206 may comprise a bit-to-symbol mapper that may be similar to the bit-to-symbol mapper of stage 110 of FIG. 2. The stage 208 may perform a final stage PSK/QAM modulation.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 9, a bits-to-8PSK symbol mapping example used in satellite 8PSK is shown. The stage 110 of FIG. 2 may comprise modulation using bit-to-symbol mapping. An example of a bit-to-symbol gray mapping process is shown in FIG. 9. Other schemes that perform bit interleaving before the symbol mapping may also be used to improve performance under certain conditions.

[0032] Referring back to FIG. 2, the final stage 112 may comprise a final stage modulator. The modulator may apply, in one example, 8/4/2-PSK modulation. The output of the final stage 112 may provide the signal to be broadcast in the digital broadband transmission system. While 8/4/2-PSK and PSK/QAM modulation have been shown, any type of modulation can be used to meet the design criteria of a particular application.

[0033] The following TABLE 3 illustrates ideal channel and demodulation simulation results: TABLE 3 Theoretical Linear Channel Performances BER Eb/No linear Ru after after channel Inner Inner Outer Useful inner inner Eb/No @ QEF Modulation Chan. Code Rs Code Code Framing Rate Efficiency decoder decoder @ Ru C/N C/No Format b/sym Type [Mbps] Rate Rate Overhead [Mbps] [bits/sym] [dB] [dB] [dB] [dB] [dB] DVB QPSK 2 viterbi 21.5 0.750 0.922 n.a. 29.72 1.38 2.00E − 04 4.35 4.70 6.11 1.44

[0034] Although the proposed outer code structure was previously defined as being RS(200,188), DVB-S RS(204,188) is also considered for comparison. For a given signal byte error rate (ByteER) p supplied at an input to a RS(N, N-2T) decoder, the output byte error rate q is given by the formula: $q = {\sum\limits_{i = {T + 1}}^{N}{{{}_{}^{N - 1}{}_{i - 1}^{}}{{p^{i}\left( {1 - p} \right)}^{N - i}.}}}$

[0035] Here, N is the RS codeword length and T is the correction power of the code. The estimated gain margin obtained in the example case of using an inner LDPC code may be sufficient to compensate for a higher 8PSK demodulator performance loss and also for higher distortion effects on the 8PSK constellation by the satellite transponder.

[0036] The function performed by the flow diagram of FIG. 2 may be implemented using a conventional general purpose digital computer programmed according to the teachings of the present specification, as will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s). Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will also be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s).

[0037] The present invention may also be implemented by the preparation of ASICs, FPGAs, or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits, as is described herein, modifications of which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art(s).

[0038] The present invention thus may also include a computer product which may be a storage medium including instructions which can be used to program a computer to perform a process in accordance with the present invention. The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disk, optical disk, CD-ROM, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMS, EPROMs, EEPROMs, Flash memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.

[0039] While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. An apparatus comprising: a first circuit configured to generate an MPEG packet data stream; and a second circuit configured to (i) scramble said data stream to generate a scrambled data stream, (ii) encode said scrambled data stream to generate an encoded data stream, (iii) interleave said encoded data stream, (iv) encode said interleaved data stream, (v) modulate said encoded data stream, and (vi) filter said modulated data stream.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said scrambling comprises an energy dispersal bitwise scrambler that applies a randomization polynomial.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said encoding comprises an outer coding by applying a Reed-Solomon encoding.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said interleaving comprises a symbol or frame interleaver.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said encoding further comprises a variable rate low density parity code inner encoder.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said modulation applies a bit to symbol mapping algorithm.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said modulation further comprises a 8/4/2 phase shift key (8/4/2-PSK) modulator.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus transmits broadband service content using low density parity code based modulation and achieves high definition digital television while meeting convention satellite system performance specifications.
 9. An apparatus comprising: means for generating an MPEG packet data stream; and means for (i) scrambling said data stream to generate a scrambled data stream, (ii) encoding said scrambled data stream to generate an encoded data stream, (iii) interleaving said encoded data stream, (iv) encoding interleaved data stream, (v) modulating said encoded data stream, and (vi) filtering said modulated data.
 10. A method of transmitting broadband signals using low density parity code based modulation comprising the steps of: (A) packing transport stream bytes from an MPEG source encoder into packets of a data stream; (B) applying randomization to said datastream; (C) applying an outer coding to said data stream; (D) applying a symbol or frame interleaving algorithm to said data stream; (E) encoding said data stream with low density parity code based modulation; (F) modulating said data stream with bit to symbol mapping; and (G) modulating said data stream with a final stage modulator.
 11. The method according to claim 10 further comprising the step of: (H) implementing synchronization by adding pilot symbols after each of an encoded frame.
 12. The method according to claim 10 wherein the randomization of step (B) comprises bit-wise energy dispersal.
 13. The method according to claim 10 wherein the outer coding of step (C) comprises Reed-Solomon encoding with a length of 200 and an error correcting capability of t=6.
 14. The method according to claim 10 wherein said method is applied to work in conjunction with an existing digital television set-top box.
 15. The method according to claim 10 wherein the symbol or frame interleaving algorithm of step (D) is applied after the coding of step (C) to serve as error correction for a decoder at a receiver.
 16. The method according to claim 10 wherein the modulation of step (E) is performed by a variable rate low density parity code inner encoder.
 17. The method according to claim 16 wherein said variable rate low density parity code inner encoder applies a shortened version of a two dimensional Euclidean Geometry low density parity code.
 18. The method according to claim 11 wherein said synchronization comprises inserting pilot bits after a low density parity code encoded frame, said synchronization is implemented after step (E) and before step (F), and said pilot bits are used for synchronization at a receiver.
 19. The method according to claim 10 wherein the bit to symbol mapping of step (F) is proceeded by a bit interleaving process to improve performance.
 20. The method according to claim 10 wherein the first stage modulator of step (G) comprises a 8/4/2-Phase-Shift Keying (8/4/2-PSK) modulator. 